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MMG Working Paper 10-17 ● ISSN 2192-2357

Karen Schönwälder / chriStiane Kofri

Diversity in Germany’s Political Life? Immigrants in City Councils

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Karen Schönwälder / Christiane KofriDiversity in Germany’s Political Life? Immigrants in City Councils

MMG Working Paper 10-17

Max-Planck-Institut zur Erforschung multireligiöser und multiethnischer Gesellschaften, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic DiversityGöttingen

© 2010 by the author

ISSN 2192-2357 (MMG Working Papers Print)

Working Papers are the work of staff members as well as visitors to the Institute’s events. The analyses and opinions presented in the papers do not reflect those of the Institute but are those of the author alone.

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MPI zur Erforschung multireligiöser und multiethnischer GesellschaftenMPI for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, GöttingenHermann-Föge-Weg 11, 37073 Göttingen, GermanyTel.: +49 (551) 4956 - 0Fax: +49 (551) 4956 - 170

www.mmg.mpg.de

[email protected]

Abstract

The incorporation of persons with a migration background into political life in Ger-

many is an under-researched theme. This paper will help to fill this gap by analyzing

the political incorporation of immigrants at the local level in North Rhine-West-

phalia, Germany’s largest regional state; a Bundesland in which immigrants make up

a large share of the population and a very considerable portion of the eligible voting

population. Despite their weighty presence, immigrants come nowhere close to pari ty

representation in the 29 big cities of NRW. Although Germany has come to see itself

as a country of immigration, it is far from achieving the equal political incorpora-

tion of all of its citizens. Still, overall levels of immigrant representation are on the

rise. Notwithstanding this overall pattern, there are strong variations both between

different municipalities and between the different political parties. This paper offers

a detailed picture of these phenomena and develops several hypotheses about the

dynamics of political participation and political representation.

Authors

Karen Schönwälder is Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for

the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity (MMG), Department of Socio-Cultural

Diversity, Göttingen.

[email protected]

chriStiane Kofri is a political scientist and member of staff at the Max Planck

Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity. Her PhD research focuses

on the political incorporation of migrants at the local level in Germany.

[email protected]

Apart from the authors, other people have contributed to the research reported in this paper: thorSten walbott, anne Kühn, Gülten Kara and UfUK olGUn helped compile candidate lists and analyze newspapers. Sören Petermann

provided indispensable advice on the design and analysis of our survey.

Contents

I. Introduction .............................................................................................. 7

II. The Setting: Population Structure and Electoral System in

Nordrhein-Westfalen ................................................................................. 9

III. The Local Elections of 2009: Media Coverage and Campaign .................. 14

IV. Levels and Patterns of Representation ...................................................... 19

Differences between cities .......................................................................... 21

And differences between parties ................................................................ 23

Institutional frameworks and interactions between parties, candidates

and voters.................................................................................................. 27

The immigrant councilors ......................................................................... 33

V. Conclusions............................................................................................... 36

References .......................................................................................................... 39

Tables and Graphs

Population and electorate in 29 cities in NRW ................................................... 13

Municipal councilors with a migration background in 29 cities in NRW ........... 20

Immigrant candidates nominated per political party in 29 cities in NRW .......... 21

Party affiliation of municipal councilors in 29 cities in NRW, 2009 .................... 24

National background of immigrant councilors in 29 cities in NRW, 2009 .......... 34

I. Introduction

Ten years after the introduction of a liberalized citizenship law, 20 years after the

formation of a unified German state and 55 years after the formal beginnings of a

labor-market induced mass immigration into (West) Germany, it seems appropriate

to assess the political incorporation of Germany’s immigrant population. Almost

twenty per cent of Germany’s population has some kind of migration background.1

Although many are foreign nationals, a large share are Germans, and we should

expect to find these Germans with a migration background represented among the

political elites of the country.

To what extent is this actually the case? Have the immigrants of the postwar

de cades managed to gain access to positions of political influence or power? Have

they joined political parties or founded their own, mobilized supporters and gained

seats in leadership bodies and parliaments? This paper approaches these questions by

way of a case study. It looks at the situation in Nordrhein-Westfalen, the biggest of

Germany’s sixteen regional states, and it focuses on the state’s largest cities and their

elected bodies, or Stadträte.2

No systematic investigation of the local political representation of immigrants in

Germany has thus far been undertaken.3 Immigrant political incorporation is alto-

gether a little researched topic for Germany (but see Wüst, 2002; Wüst/Heinz, 2009;

Schönwälder, 2010). This study aims to extend our empirical knowledge of the extent

of political incorporation, specifically the parliamentary representation, of people

with a migration background in Germany. Unlike many other studies, we are inter-

ested in immigrants and their descendants – and not in ethnic minority members or

“visible” minorities. While the groups usually overlap in reality, the reasons for their

potential under-representation systematically differ: for ethnic and “visible minori-

ties” the effects of racism and discrimination are central, while for immigrants they

1 In Germany this term usually refers to foreigners and to people who themselves have immigrated to Germany as well as the children of foreigners or immigrants. In this text, we will use the terms immigrant and person with a migration background interchan-geably.

2 Municipalities are part of the Länder, the council or Rat is the highest executive body in a municipality. The councils are referred to as Parliaments here in order to highlight their decision-making and representative functions. They take important decisions in the areas of infrastructure as well as educational and cultural life. See Wollmann, 1999, on the sta-tus of the councils.

3 Roth, 2009, offers a general discussion of immigrant participation at the local level, but makes little mention of elected representatives.

Schönwälder / Kofri: Diversity in Germany’s Political Life? / MMG WP 10-178

(also) include all aspects of acculturation and socialization into a new political sys-

tem and culture as well as the effects of transnational links. Although it is desirable

to study both, it is necessary to distinguish between the effects of ethnic or racist

discrimination and the effects of immigration.

Furthermore, this paper aims to contribute to a more precise evaluation of the rele-

vance and peculiarities of the local level. Cities, and sometimes the local level more

generally, are often ascribed a particular role in the process of immigrant incorpora-

tion. As is commonly claimed, “Integration takes place at the local level” (MGFFI,

2007: 25). In the academic debate, it has been suggested that political incorporation

proceeds from the bottom up. With reference to the US, Michael Jones-Correa has

argued that participation in the local context “serves as a gateway into participation

in the larger national polity” (Jones-Correa, 2001: 2). This reiterates the widespread

view of the local level as the “school of democracy” (Pähle, 2008: 249).

Indeed, it is plausible to assume that the local level may be more accessible to new-

comers: The immediate context in which people live should be more familiar to them.

Advisory bodies like the German Foreigners’ Councils (Ausländerbeiräte) may have

provided the opportunity to gain some experience with the political system and its

actors and thus they may have fostered the political socialization of these newcom-

ers into a new framework. Furthermore, local representative bodies are less exclusive

in their social composition than regional or federal ones (Holtkamp, 2008: 137)4,

and competition for seats is less intense. Finally, cities are assumed to have a more

liberal political culture than more rural regions, and the residential concentration of

immigrants as well as the existence of stronger community structures may provide

a more favourable background for their political representation in mainstream bod-

ies. If these assumptions are correct, we should assume an earlier beginning and

higher levels of representation in elected bodies at the local level as compared to the

regional and federal levels.

This paper will outline how advanced immigrant representation in fact is at the

local level. Before we turn to the composition of the city councils, section II of this

paper will give some background information on the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen

(NRW, North Rhine-Westfalia) and its electoral system. Section III will briefly dis-

cuss to what extent the representation of immigrants has become a topic of politi-

4 However, council members are often employed in the civil service or are self-employed. A survey of 3557 council members in the state of Baden-Württemberg in 2008 revealed that about half had higher education certificates, almost one third were university educated, and only 3.3% described themselves as workers (Witt/ Krause/ Ritter, 2009).

Schönwälder / Kofri: Diversity in Germany’s Political Life? / MMG WP 10-17 9

cal campaigns and the public debate. In section IV we turn to an evaluation of the

election results: we will analyze the overall level of immigrant representation and

describe and discuss differences between cities as well as between political parties.

In this context, we will also evaluate the role of independent lists (Wählergruppen)

with large numbers of immigrant candidates. Furthermore, we will comment on the

charac teristics of the immigrant councilors, in particular their national origins.

Because immigrants are more concentrated in larger cities and for practical rea-

sons our study focuses on cities with at least 100,000 inhabitants. We thus capture

8.1 of the state’s 17.9 million inhabitants and 6.3 of 14.2 million potential voters

(IT NRW 2009; IM NRW, 2009). Our study investigates the results of the local elec-

tions held on 30 August 2009 and compares them with the situation after the previ-

ous election held in 2004.

II. The Setting: Population Structure and Electoral System in Nordrhein-Westfalen

Nordrhein-Westfalen prides itself on having a particularly vivid immigration history

(MGFFI, 2007). Local academics claim a “pronounced integration culture” and a

tradition of openness (Korte, 2009: 214-215). While these claims lack an empirical

basis and may be deemed expressions of regional patriotism, the state does have an

unquestionable history of major and diverse immigration.

Nordrhein-Westfalen is the most highly and densely populated regional state in

Germany. In 2008 it inhabited 22% of Germany’s total population. Twenty-nine of

Germany’s ca. 80 largest cities (cities with at least 100,000 inhabitants) are located in

this state. No other German regional or city state comes even close to this order of

magnitude in its urban structure. Köln is the largest city, with roughly one million

inhabitants; Düsseldorf is the capital.

The Ruhr Region in Nordrhein-Westfalen was once a major industrial and mining

hub of Germany. In the 1960s and 1970s hundreds of thousands of guest workers

were recruited to work in the mines and industrial firms of this state, followed later

by ethnic German and refugee immigration. Nowadays, 4.38 million or 24.5% of the

almost 18 million inhabitants in Nordrhein-Westfalen have a migration background.

As major immigration movements were fairly recent, 2.8 million are foreign-born.


About 2.4 million are German citizens (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2010: 40, 42, 117).5

The share of individuals with a migration background in Nordrhein-Westfalen is

slightly higher than the proportion in Germany as a whole, which is about 19%, but

slightly lower than in the regional states of Baden-Württemberg and Hessen and in

the city-states of Hamburg, Bremen and Berlin, where it ranges from 25 to 28 per

cent (own calculations based on Statistisches Bundesamt, 2010: 116-117). Still, more

than a quarter of Germany’s immigrant population lives in Nordrhein-Westfalen,

and in absolute figures it hosts the largest immigrant population of all German states.

The regional state of

Nordrhein-Westfalen in

Germany

• 17.9 million inhabitants

• 4.4 million inhabitants

with a migration

background

About one third of Germany’s population with Turkish roots lives in Nordrhein-

Westfalen. In Köln, Duisburg and Dortmund the share of Turks in the immigrant

population is much higher than, for instance, in the south German cities of München

and Stuttgart. The immigrant population is thus less diverse than in other German

regions. Generally, however, ethnic concentrations are not as distinctive in Germany

5 Estimates of those with a migration background are usually based on the microcensus. NRW statistics give slightly differing numbers because definitions of migration back-ground differ.


as in the US or Britain (Schönwälder/Söhn, 2009). In spite of their relative domi-

nance, no more than about one fifth of those with a migration background have

Turkish origins. Other major groups are ethnic German immigrants from Eastern

Europe and the former Soviet Union.6 Like in Germany as a whole, immigrants

origi nating in other European Union countries account for a large share (28%) of

the immigrant population (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2010: 117).

The population with a migration background includes German and foreign citi-

zens. A bit more than half of the immigrant population holds German citizenship.

The increase of immigrants with German citizenship is a recent phenomenon and

– apart from ethnic German immigration – largely a result of the reform of the Ger-

man citizenship law in 1999 (Worbs, 2008; Green, 2006). Even though naturalization

rates have remained moderate, the liberalized nationality law opened the doorway to

full political participation for millions of foreigners. Of the naturalized foreigners

in Nordrhein-Westfalen, close to 70,000 were naturalized before 1990, but almost

570,000 have become German since then, after the introduction of the first moderate

reforms of naturalization law (MGFFI, 2008: 101). Indeed, the reformed law and

the ensuing increase in the number of naturalized immigrants over the years, have

secured the relevance of the immigrant electorate.

Of the total electorate, comprising 14.15 million, those with a migration back-

ground are estimated to number more than two million or 14 to 15 %.7 This relatively

high share is partly due to the fact that, in local elections, the electorate includes resi-

dents with EU-citizenship. The latter were estimated to number 0.57 million poten-

tial voters. Furthermore, since 1999, voting starts at the age of 16 in Nordrhein-

Westfalen. Due to the differing age distribution patterns of persons with and without

a migration background, this peculiarity of the electoral system systematically aug-

ments the importance of the immigrant electorate as compared to those states that

accord suffrage to their residents at the age of 18.

Table 1 shows the distribution of the voting age population in the cities analyzed.

The inhabitants with a migration background make up from 7% to 26% of the total

number of potential voters. Thus, in most cities the share ranges from 13% to 21%,

including the cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants.8 These figures illustrate that

in big cities in particular, the potential voters with a migration background account

6 Figures for this group are unreliable. Between 1989 and 2007, 656,000 Ethnic Germans (Aussiedler) immigrated to NRW (MGFFI, 2009: 6).

7 Data provided on request by IT NRW. These are estimates based on the microcensus 2008. 8 Microcensus estimates are only available for the district-free (kreisfreie) cities.


for a considerable share of the electorate and that the political parties can no longer

afford to ignore this segment of the voting population.

The municipal election system in Nordrhein-Westfalen is a mixed system based

on a combination of majority and proportional representation.9 Voters are accorded

a single vote. With this vote, they simultaneously vote for a direct candidate in their

constituency and for the list of that candidate’s party. Approximately one half of the

councilors are elected directly in the electoral constituencies according to a majori-

tarian principle. The other half of the councilors is elected according to the propor-

tion of a party’s or a list’s overall votes in the city from a city-wide list (the so-called

Reserveliste). The number of seats on the council mainly depends on the size of the

city.10 In the cities investigated, city council size ranged from 54 to 96 seats in 2009.

In Nordrhein-Westfalen, municipal elections operate on the basis of closed lists.

The placing or order of the candidates is thus decided upon by the parties and may

not be influenced by voters. As emphasized by Pippa Norris: closed lists “allow party

officials control over who gets elected and their subsequent political careers” (Norris,

2004: 12).11 In section IV we will come back to the effects of institutional structures

on the opportunities of immigrant candidates.

Thresholds are another important aspect of electoral systems. At the municipal

level in Nordrhein-Westfalen, unlike in federal elections, there no longer exists a for-

mal threshold (Korte, 2009: 22, 28).12 The absence of thresholds systematically aug-

ments the electoral chances of smaller parties and independent local lists as they

may be entitled to seats without having to receive a specified minimum share of votes.

This may provide better opportunities for new formations, including immigrant lists,

as less than one per cent of the vote can secure a seat on the council. In fact, several

such independent lists (Wählergruppen) stood in the 2009 local elections.

9 There exists no common municipal electoral system in Germany. Instead, the local elec-toral systems in place in the German states (Länder) all differ with respect to a variety of factors.

10 The size of a city council depends mainly on the number of residents in a given munici-pality. A council may collectively decide to reduce its own size (by either two, four or six seats). Seats may also be added to the council through the addition of “overhang” man-dates. This is the case when a party receives a higher number of mandates than its party-list votes would entitle it to.

11 Closed lists exist at the municipal level in only a few German Länder: NRW, Saarland and Schleswig Holstein. In all other states, some system of preferential voting exists.

12 In 1999 the regional constitutional court ruled that the 5% hurdle inhibited the chances of smaller parties and groups making it unconstitutional.


Table 1: Population and electorate in 29 cities in NRW

City Total population1

Electorate total2

Voting-age population with a migration back-ground, Germans and EU-foreigners3

Total in % of electorate

Aachen 259 269 187 618 35 439 19Bergisch Gladbach 105 901 88 273 n/a n/aBielefeld 323 615 251 782 51 275 20Bochum 378 596 298 427 44 577 15Bonn 317 949 233 485 39 660 17Bottrop 117 756 95 039 10 190 11Dortmund 584 412 449 606 71 310 16Duisburg 494 048 368 259 54 047 15Düsseldorf 584 217 460 691 84 756 18Essen 579 759 459 246 59 497 13Gelsenkirchen 262 063 198 087 28 761 15Hagen 182 459 152 513 29 152 19Hamm 182 459 136 063 22 469 17Herne 166 924 124 526 18 236 15Köln 995 420 764 878 142 207 19Krefeld 236 333 181 360 37 719 21Leverkusen 161 322 126 769 25 770 20Moers 106 645 84 198 n/a n/aMönchengladbach 258 848 207 856 28 398 14Mülheim an der Ruhr 168 288 134 866 11 529 9Münster 273 875 221 698 29 096 13Neuss 151 254 118 278 n/a n/aOberhausen 215 670 167 744 12 093 7Paderborn 144 811 113 025 n/a n/aRecklinghausen 120 059 96 083 n/a n/aRemscheid 112 679 88 442 22 890 26Siegen 104 419 81 796 n/a n/aSolingen 161 779 125 691 28 345 23Wuppertal 353 308 262 653 57 191 22

Sources: 1 IT.NRW 2009 (figures for 31 Dec. 2008) 2 IM NRW 2009 3 Microcensus estimates (2008) provided to the authors from IT.NRW. Microcensus estimates are only available for the district-free (kreisfreie) cities.


III. The Local Elections of 2009: Media Coverage and Campaign

The nomination of immigrant candidates is a relatively new phenomenon in Ger-

many. To what extent is this issue addressed in the public debate? Do the media

contribute to spreading awareness about this phenomenon? Are these candidacies

controversial? Is the election of immigrant councilors regarded as noteworthy?

As we found, local elections are not a major theme for the media. In the regional

newspapers, other topics were given more prominence. The specific topics of immi-

grant participation and representation were rarely mentioned. Only WDR Funkhaus

Europa, the former guest worker radio station, broadcasted a series of interviews

and reports. In two daily newspapers we analyzed in the period of about four weeks

before and after the election,13 we found only a couple of relevant texts. With the

exceptions listed below, it can be concluded that neither did the newspapers exa-

mined here to any relevant extent discuss the role of immigrant voters and candidates,

nor were such candidates specifically introduced. This implies that we did not find

any negative reporting.

The Turkish-language newspapers, however, adopted an active role in publicizing

immigrant candidates and in trying to mobilize voters.14 Although local elections in

one of the German states were not treated as a major political theme, a couple of

articles were published announcing candidates of Turkish origin. The Turkish-lan-

guage papers reported exclusively about candidates of Turkish national background,

while commonalities of immigrants in a more general sense were not evoked. Politi-

cians of the two major parties CDU and SPD received particular attention. The

papers appealed to readers to take part in the election, but refrained from explicit

calls for an “ethnic vote”. No analytic text or commentary could be identified; the

typical article was a report about campaign activities of candidates. Altogether we

can conclude that the Turkish-language newspapers may have helped mobilize voters

to take part in the election and raise their awareness of the existence of candidates

of Turkish origin.

13 We analyzed the Duisburg edition of the Neue Ruhr Zeitung and the Essen edition of the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung from 18 August to 15 September 2009.

14 We analyzed the Hürriyet and Sabah in the months of August and September 2010, the monthly Haber in the same months as well as random issues of Türkiye Gazetesi and Milliyet.


Municipal elections in Nordrhein-Westfalen: German press coverage

In the Duisburg Edition of the ‘Neue Ruhr Zeitung’, only a single article could be

identified dealing explicitly with the candidacy of persons with a migration back-

ground for local election. The article reported on the existence of the ‘Duisburger

Alternative Liste’, a local independent list, consisting almost solely of immigrants

(“Die Jungen und die Zuwanderer”, 25 August 2009). Another article, reporting

implicitly on the candidacy of persons with a migration background, introduced

Yulia Shevchenko as one of the several new, young municipal councilors (4 Sept.

2009). Similarly, other Duisburg candidates were introduced without specifically

alluding to their Turkish migration backgrounds („Die Grünen und die SPD“, 28

August 2009; „Mehr soziale Gerechtigkeit“, 22 August 2009).

In the Essen edition of the ‘West-

deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung’,

only two articles appeared addres-

sing these issues. The first article

reported that a “Muslim” list was

standing in Bonn: „Muslim-

vereini gung tritt zur Wahl an“

(20 August 2009). The other dealt

specifically with the political pres-

ence of persons with a migration

background. Candidates with a

migration background for the

municipal council in Essen were the theme of the article, which was accompanied

by a photo. In this photo, these politically active immigrants who reportedly had

not encountered distinctive obstacles to their candidacies or made any negative

experiences during their election campaigns, were depicted („ ,Wir sitzen alle im

selben Boot‘ “, 20 August 2009).15 A commentary positively assessed the engage-

ment of these individuals as being ‘an important step forward’ („Ein Schritt nach

vorn“, 20 August 2009).

1 5

15 In fact, only the candidates of Turkish background were introduced.


Municipal elections in Nordrhein-Westfalen: Turkish press coverage

Although the Turkish language newspapers did

feature the municipal elections in NRW, the

reports were sporadic as well as scarce. In its

‘Europe’ section, Hurriyet reported on the

municipal elections mainly in the week directly

preceding election day. Between the 25th and

the 28th of August, nine relevant articles

appeared. Typically, either candidates stem-

ming from Turkey were presented, or visits of

politicians to mosques as well as their calls to

vote were depicted.

Other newspapers, such as Türkiye

Gazetesi, Sabah, Milliyet, the

monthly periodical paper Haber

also featured a few reports on the

municipal elections in NRW. All

articles that appeared were similar

in nature. One article in Sabah (5

August 2009) with the headline:

“Kumru wants votes” informed

that Turks were amongst the candidates nominated for the coming election. The

accompanying photo, depicted campaigning activities of Sinan Kumru, a candi-

date in Essen. Similarly Milliyet reported on 17 August 2009 that for several dif-

ferent parties, Turkish candidates were standing for election. Another article fea-

tured Volkan Baran, a candidate standing in Dortmund, on a mosque visit where

he announced the release of subsidies for youth work.


For the political parties, election campaigns for municipal elections are very much a

local affair (Gehne/Holtkamp, 2002). Financial resources are limited. The politi cal

parties concentrate their publicity in the cities on the election of the majors. Generally,

it can be observed that all parties are now paying some attention to the immigrant

vote. This is a fairly recent development. They field immigrant candidates, publish

material in Turkish and Russian and on rare occasions, they advertise in Turkish-

language papers. But altogether such activities remain extremely limited.

In Nordrhein-Westfalen the regional SPD organization produced a leaflet in Turk-

ish and Russian and supported a meeting of local immigrant politicians (Interview

Tsalastras).

The CDU left targeted activities to two networks, one with members of Turkish

origin, and another “network for young Germans from Russia” that produced flyers

and organised a small number of events during the campaign.16

Altogether, it seems safe to assume that specific activities targeting immigrant

vo ters were in the hands of the local party organisations and/or the individual candi-

dates who sometimes produced leaflets in immigrant languages.

Specific activities targeting immigrant voters by non-partisan initiatives are, to our

knowledge, rare.17 To date, the mobilization of the immigrant electorate in Germany

has not become a major subject of non-partisan campaigning.

16 „Aktivitäten des Netzwerks für junge Deutsche aus Russland in der CDU Nordrhein-Westfalen und des Deutsch-Türkischen Forums der CDU Nordrhein-Westfalen“, undated.

17 The regional organization of the foreigners’ councils provided a sample text for motions appealing for larger numbers of immigrant candidates (see www.dvv-vhs.de). In 2004, the union of municipalities (Städte- und Gemeindebund NRW) distributed a CD in 21 EU languages encouraging EU citizens to participate in the local elections (StGB, 2004).


IV. Levels and Patterns of Representation

While the representation of the immigrant population was not a major theme of the

campaign or the media, its actual development was marked by significant changes.

Looking at the overall results of the August 2009 election, we found that in 26

of the 29 cities at least one councilor with a migration background was elected.

Al together, we could identify 79 such immigrant councilors. This represents almost

4% of the total number of 1995 councilors elected.

We identified “councilors with a migration background” or “immigrant coun-

cilors” as both people who themselves immigrated to Germany as well as the children

of immigrants. It is not possible to rely on any official information on the immigrant

status of candidates or councilors, as such information is unavailable. However, the

official lists of candidates do contain information about their date and place of birth,

which allowed us to identify the primary immigrants among the candidates and

councilors. We identified second-generation immigrants on the basis of names and

additional information from websites, publications or the individuals themselves.18

Overall, there was an increase in 2009 in the number of immigrant councilors

in the cities studied. As shown in Table 2, a total of 44 councilors with a migration

background had been elected in 2004, a significantly lower number than the 79 coun-

cilors of the year 2009. This overall trend towards an increase was, however, not mir-

rored in all of the 29 cities analyzed. Eight cities reached the same level of immigrant

representation in 2009 as in 2004, and three cities even experienced a decrease. The

number of cities without any immigrant councilor sunk from eight to three. Still, it

would be premature to assume a stable trend towards increased immigrant represen-

tation.

If we look at candidate-nominations we find an overall increase, although for the

Green Party and the Liberals, the numbers only increased moderately. The CDU

even put up fewer candidates than in 2004. The SPD clearly increased its efforts to

nominate immigrant candidates, and the Left nominated more immigrants than the

PDS in 2004. While in 2004 a total of 327 immigrants were nominated by the five

18 For the elected councilors this was usually done by directly asking the individuals con-cerned about their backgrounds. For all candidates this was not practicable. We excluded foreign-born individuals whose names suggested German origins (but not for those born in Austria and Switzerland as here names do not provide clues to the national origin of the individual). We base our analysis on those initially elected. During a legislative period, councilors step down and others take their place, possibly including immigrants. It is hardly practicable to trace such changes comprehensively.


Table 2: Municipal councilors with a migration background (MB) in 29 cities in NRW

City

2004 2009

Voting-age population with MB, Ger mans and EU-for-eigners

Trend

Council seats

Coun-cilors

with MB% Council

seats

Coun-cilors

with MB% in % of elec-

torate2004-2009

Aachen 58 1 2 74 2 3 19 +Bergisch-Glad-bach 66 0 0 62 1 2 n/a +

Bielefeld 60 1 2 66 3 5 20 +Bochum 76 3 4 82 4 5 15 +Bonn 66 1 2 80 5 6 17 +Bottrop 58 0 0 54 1 2 11 +Dortmund 88 1 1 96 5 5 16 +Duisburg 74 4 5 74 8 11 15 +Düsseldorf 82 3 4 92 6 7 18 +Essen 82 3 4 82 3 4 13 =Gelsenkirchen 66 0 0 66 3 5 15 +Hagen 58 0 0 58 0 0 19 =Hamm 58 2 3 58 4 7 17 +Herne 66 2 3 64 3 5 15 +Köln 90 6 7 90 6 7 19 =Krefeld 62 0 0 58 1 2 21 +Leverkusen 66 2 3 68 1 1 20 -Moers 54 2 4 56 4 7 n/a +Mönchenglad-bach 76 0 0 66 0 0 14 =

Mülheim an der Ruhr 52 1 2 58 1 2 9 =

Münster 74 1 1 80 3 4 13 +Neuss 58 0 0 62 1 2 n/a +Oberhausen 58 0 0 62 3 5 7 +Paderborn 58 1 2 68 1 1 n/a =Recklinghausen 58 1 2 54 1 2 n/a =Remscheid 58 1 2 54 1 2 26 =Siegen 62 1 2 70 0 0 n/a -Solingen 68 5 7 72 6 8 23 +Wuppertal 74 2 3 69 2 3 22 =Total 1926 44 2 1995 79 4 +

Source: Municipal councilors 2004 and 2009: MPI-IMCO Database.


major parties (those parties that are represented in the federal parliament) 383 immi-

grants were nominated in 2009 to stand for election. These figures correspond to a

17% increase. However, among the elected councilors the increase of 80 % was mar-

kedly larger. Apparently immigrant candidates were now placed higher on the lists or

stood as direct candidates in safe constituencies.

In none of the municipalities analyzed did persons with a migration background

come close to parity representation, or representation in correspondence to their

proportion of the electorate.19 Duisburg is the city where the share of immigrant

councilors at 11% comes closest to the share of those with a migration background

in the voting-age population (15%). For all cities analyzed, the share of immigrants

among the total number of councilors is 4%, while in the electorate of the state the

share of EU-citizens and Germans with a migration background is estimated at 14

to 15%. The big cities in Nordrhein-Westfalen are still far from parity representation.

Table 3: Immigrant candidates nominated per political party in 29 cities in NRW

Year CDU SPD Greens FDP PDS/ Left Total

2004 55 66 67 41 98 327% 13 16 16 10 24 792009 46 92 72 45 128 383% 8 17 13 8 23 69

Source: MPI-IMCO Database

Differences between cities

There are strong variations in the level of political representation attained by immi-

grants in the different cities. As already mentioned, three cities have no immigrant

councilor at all. A number of cities have only a single councilor with a migration

background, the highest figure is eight.

There is no readily available explanation for such differences. Neither the size of

the city, nor the share of the immigrant population can solely explain them. In the

cities where those with a migration background account for 20% or more of the elec-

19 There are different ways of measuring parity representation. Some authors take the pro-portion of immigrants in the population as the standard, i.e. including foreign citizens.


torate (Bielefeld, Krefeld, Leverkusen, Solingen, Wuppertal, Remscheid), the number

of immigrant councilors is 3, 1, 1, 6, 2 and 1 respectively. The share of the Turkish

population and more generally the presence of relatively large national groups in

the immigrant population are possible factors, but we lack information about the

breakdown of those with migration background according to national origins. If

we take the population of foreign citizenship as an indicator, we find cities with very

large shares of Turks having low immigrant representation (Gelsenkirchen, Herne,

Bottrop)20 as well as others with higher representation levels. The strength of left-of-

centre parties also does not provide an apparent explanation.21

Political factors may account for differences. Duisburg is the city that performs

best in terms of immigrant representation. A recent city-wide debate about a new

mosque, which was conducted in a fairly harmonious manner, may have contri buted

to this development by raising awareness for immigrant issues, by mobilizing the

immigrant population itself and/or by bringing elites of the different population

groups in touch with each other. Duisburg is also the German city with the high-

est share of Turks. Group size may also contribute to mobilization. An increased

sensitivity to immigrant participation may also exist in Solingen, which was the site

of a deadly arson attack in 1993. This event acquired symbolic meaning as repre-

senting the threats of racism beyond the city borders. This led to intensified integra-

tion efforts. The city performs relatively well with a 8% share of immigrant coun-

cilors. Essen, often praised for its exemplary integration policy (Ireland, 2004: 63-74;

Krummacher/Kulbach, 2009: 386), has three immigrants among 82 councilors (4%),

which is not particularly poor, but also not particularly impressive. Future research

will have to clarify the structural and political conditions, or combination of such

conditions, interacting together to foster immigrant political careers.22

20 In all three cities, the Turkish nationals account for more than half of the foreign popula-tion. This is also the case in Duisburg and Hamm, where representation levels are rela-tively high, MGFFI, 2009 (data for 31 Dec. 2007).

21 There are relatively well-performing cities where the CDU is the strongest party (Bonn, Düsseldorf, Solingen) and where Green Party and The Left hardly or not at all contribute to immigrant representation levels (Bonn, Düsseldorf, Köln, Moers).

22 Christiane Kofri, a doctoral candidate at the MPI, is currently researching the political incorporation of persons with a migration background at the local level in Germany. Her dissertation will explain existing variations in levels of immigrant incorporation in municipal councils by examining differences across cities with respect to such aspects as: the characteristics of the immigrant population, the existing political and institutional framework, cultural factors, approach to integration and economic strength.


And differences between parties

The political parties contributed very unevenly to immigrant representation. With its

total of 30 immigrant councilors, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was respon sible

for bringing in the largest number of this group. This result is relativized, however,

when set in relation to the total number of mandates secured by that party, which

was 633. Of the total number of SPD councilors, immigrant councilors only make

up 5%. The SPD immigrant councilors were successful in 16 of the total 29 cities. In

a number of cities, this party was able to secure success for several candidates with a

migration background; three were elected in Duisburg, and four in Köln and Moers

respectively. In contrast, several large SPD factions include no immigrants at all, e.g.

the 32-member-strong Bochum faction, the 34-member faction in Gelsenkirchen and

the 31-member faction in Essen. In Dortmund there is one immigrant among 37 Social

Democratic councilors. These are four cities in the traditional industrial heartland of

the Ruhr, all with significant immigrant populations. Nevertheless, compared with the

situation in 2004, it is noticeable that the SPD is making efforts to diversify its social

basis. Given the strong working class background of the immigrant population and its

large trade union membership, the Social Democrats in particular should be expected

to find resonance among the immigrants. Surveys conducted among those of Turkish

background consistently show high rates of support for the SPD (Sauer, 2009: 170).23

However, solidified internal structures and established claims to positions of influ-

ence were and still are the most likely obstacles to an inclusion of new groups within

this party. It seems to have taken the shock of repeated defeats in regional and local

elections in Nordrhein-Westfalen to spur the targeted mobilization of immigrants.

Thus the SPD in Duisburg and in Cologne, where the position of mayor had been

lost to the conservatives in the preceding years, now brought three and four immi-

grants into the city councils.

The second-largest number of immigrant representatives was brought into the

councils by a relatively new party, The Left. Of its 99 councilors in the 29 cities, 15

have a migration background. From the total, of 79 immigrant councilors, 19% origi-

nate from this party. Holding seats in 13 different city councils, they are relatively

widely distributed. As depicted in Graph 1, The Left (Die Linke), a party that stood

for the first time in this form, contributed significantly to the increase of immigrant

representation from 2004 to 2009. Looking at the candidates in Nordrhein-Westfalen

23 In a survey conducted among Turks (Turkish and German nationals) in NRW in June 2009 by the Zentrum für Türkeistudien, 40% expressed a preference for the SPD and only 4% for the CDU while 19% declared that they would vote for the Green Party.


cities, it is remarkable that the Left was able to field as many as 128 immigrants.

Obviously, this new socialist party is particularly open to immigrant politicians and

possibly also particularly attractive for some groups of left-wing immigrants. Kurds,

for instance, are believed to be strongly represented here. Founded in June 2007, as

a merger of the East German socialist PDS and West German formations, The Left

attracted, amongst others, former Social Democrats who turned away from their

party in protest against a social welfare policy perceived to be deeply unjust (Schoen/

Falter, 2005). Such motives possibly apply to immigrants in particular. Nordrhein-

Westfalen was one key basis for the emergence of the WASG (in 2005) that later

became part of The Left.

The Green Party, which is a major conduit of immigrant representation on the

regional and federal levels, secured 14 seats for immigrants in the big cities of Nord-

rhein-Westfalen. Nine of the 29 Green Party factions have immigrant members and

5% of all seats secured by the party as a whole are held by councilors with a migration

background. This proportion is the second highest of the five major parties. However,

a lack of immigrant representation is striking in cities with strong Green Party factions,

Graph 1: Party affiliation of municipal councilors in 29 cities in NRW, 2009

158

99

167

260

633

678

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

Others

Linke

FDP

Grüne

SPD

CDU9 (1 %) Councilors with a migration background

30 (5 %)

14 (5 %)

4 (2 %)

15 (15 %)

7 (4 %)


Total number of seats in the cities analyzed


such as Köln and Düsseldorf, where the party managed to secure a total of 20 and

14 seats respectively, but did not bring in a single immigrant councilor. Between 2004

and 2009 the Greens only slightly increased the pool of immigrant candidates who

stood in the cities analyzed. In order to explain this relatively disappointing picture,

more detailed local studies are required. Possibly, the structure of the immigrant

population in Nordrhein-Westfalen is less compatible with the libertarian and eco-

logical profile of the Green Party than in other regions.

The conservatives and the fairly conservative German liberals also have immi-

grant councilors in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Of the total 79 immigrant councilors, only

nine originate from the Christian Democratic Party (CDU). This result is especially

meager when one considers this figure in relation to the total number of mandates

secured by this party. In the cities analyzed, the CDU came out as the strongest party

with a total of 678 seats. Of these, only 1% went to candidates of immigrant origin.

The Free Democratic Party (FDP) was almost as unsuccessful as the CDU with

respect to elected immigrant candidates. In three cities, only four immigrant coun-

cilors were able to secure council seats. This makes up only 2% of the total number of

FDP seats (167), and only 5% of the total number of immigrant councilors.

The reasons for this minimal representation of immigrants are different for the

two parties. The FDP has supported relatively liberal immigration policies; here the

social profile of the party that is seen as representing the interests of the wealthier

professionals is probably crucial. For the Christian Democrats their religious pro-

file and their traditionally staunch restrictive course with regard to immigration,

immigrant rights and citizenship, may limit their ability to attract members from the

immigrant population. On the other hand, the Ethnic German Immigrant popula-

tion is usually regarded as conservative in their outlooks. This is not yet reflected in

the composition of CDU councilors. However, the number of CDU-candidates with

a migration background, albeit low, suggests that the supply of such candidates and

the ability of the Christian Conservatives to attract an immigrant following are not

the main bottleneck.24 Rather, the low level of immigrant representation in this party

indicates that the inner-party barriers may be more decisive.

Apart from the standard “pathway to power” through the main political parties,

several immigrants secured council seats through independent lists. Before the elec-

tion, several lists, deemed “immigrant” or even “Muslim” attracted considerable

24 It could of course be the case that people are prepared to stand as candidates but do not want to become councilors. To date, there is no empirical knowledge on this.


media attention (see e.g. Zeit Online 28 August 2009 “Türkischstämmige Kölner wol-

len mitmischen”; Der Tagesspiegel 31 August 2009 “Muslimenvereinigung holt Sitz

in NRW”). While the candidature of independent groups is pretty common in

German cities, the organization of immi-

grants in such lists raised worries about

their potential non-integration into the

political mainstream. None of these groups

indicated in their names that they wished to

be seen as immigrant or ethnic groups. In

four of our 29 cities, individuals with a

migration background were elected for

Wählergruppen. In Gelsenkirchen two of

the three elected immigrant councilors

belong to the BI Gelsenkirchen; in Bonn,

two of the five immigrant councilors repre-

sent the Bündnis für Frieden und Fairness

(BFF).25 Both lists fielded mainly candi-

dates with a migration background. Two

other immigrant councilors were elected for

groups not marked by a significant immi-

grant presence or profile (SOZIAL in

Bochum, Unabhängige Wählergemeinschaft für Düsseldorf (Freie Wähler)). A number

of other groups, also fielding mainly immigrant candidates, were unsuccessful (ABI

Köln, DAL Duisburg, IWI Recklinghausen, BUND Bochum). In addition to these

lists, there were also mixed lists fielding many immigrant candidates (Europäische

Liste Aachen, Essen steht auf). While the candidature of immigrants in independent

groups does not seem to be a mass phenomenon, the existence of such groups indi-

cates the presence of a pool of activists with immigrant backgrounds, who do not

feel represented by the established parties. In Gelsenkirchen, 32 candidates with a

migration background stood for the BIG, and only 11 for the five major parties. In

Bonn, the BFF fielded 31 candidates with a migration background, the five main par-

ties, on the other hand, only nominated 10. In these two cities the new groups were

successful. In Recklinghausen, 26 of the 32 immigrant candidates stood for the

25 The leader of the BFF, Haluk Yildiz, in 2010 stood for the regional parliament with a new “Bündnis für Innovation und Gerechtigkeit”, see www.derwesten.de, 28 April 2010.


Interkulturelle Wählerinitiative IWI. From 2004 to 2009 the number of independent

lists largely formed by immigrants clearly increased. It will be interesting to see

whether in future the major political parties will co-opt this pool of activists, or

whether the independent immigrant lists will become an established feature of local

political life with an increased share of voters. Of these lists, the BIG in Gelsen-

kirchen scored the highest share of the vote with 3.7% in 2009. Other “immigrant”

lists attracted only a few hundred votes (139 for ABI Köln, 428 for IWI Reckling-

hausen). Apparently, not many voters believe that they should be represented by

specific immigrant lists. As yet, these lists are mainly remarkable because of the

number of activists they mobilize as candidates, and not the number of voters they

attract.

Institutional frameworks and interactions between parties, candidates and voters

Significant attention in electoral research has been devoted to the influence of insti-

tutional features of the electoral system on the chances of underprivileged groups.

With regard to women’s representation, it is an established finding that proportional

representation systems, where women stand on a list of candidates, are more condu-

cive to equal representation than majoritarian systems, where women have to secure

nomination and election as the single party candidate in a constituency.

This is assumed to be the case because party leaderships may be interested in

compiling a list of candidates that represents the diversity of the population and

thus be prepared or even actively motivated to place women – or immigrants – on

these lists (Paxton et al., 2007: 269). For local party organizations nominating only

a single candidate per constituency, there is no strong incentive to contribute to an

overall balancing of the party ticket in order to represent the diversity of the electo-

rate (Norris, 2006: 205). Local party organizations want to field candidates for the

constituency who can win the seat. If they assume a negative voter response to a

female or immigrant candidate, they may refrain from nominating such candidates.

However, as has been argued for the United States, “when underrepresented groups

are highly concentrated and compose moderate portions of the population”, they

can be successful in a system based on single constituency representatives (Troun-

stine/Valdini, 2008). Here, numbers count and large mobilized groups can succeed in

getting their candidate nominated and elected.


To what extent do such general findings and considerations apply to the German

case and to local elections in Nordrhein-Westfalen?

German electoral systems usually mix PR and majoritarian elements, so that we

cannot assume to find the “pure” logics of either of the two systems (Hennl/Kaiser,

2008: 322). Direct candidates in a constituency are nominated by the local party

membership. As regards the placement of candidates on the party list, it is gener-

ally assumed that at least in the CDU and the SPD this is negotiated in informal

leadership circles at the city level before the formal vote (Holtkamp, 2007: 154). In

both cases, the higher party leadership bodies seem reluctant to intervene i.e. in favor

of a balanced representation of particular groups because this would be met with

resistance (Woyke, 2005: 107-108). Thus the regional steering committee of the SPD

in Nordrhein-Westfalen (Landesvorstand) points out that it is in the hands of the

local organisations whether they deliberately search for candidates with a migration

background (e-mail 13 July 2009). The CDU similarly refers to the responsibility of

the district organisations (Kreisverbände). The representation of ‘all relevant social

groups’ is described as desirable but in the hands of the party’s basis (mail 19 August

2009). Still, at the city level, the party leaderships might try and compile a list of

candidates representing the diversity of the population. Indeed, in Duisburg, the

leadership of the SPD (Unterbezirksvorstand), before the 2009 election pushed for a

nomination of immigrants (and young people) on the party list in order to show that

‘we do not only talk about migrants, we also engage them’ (Interview SPD Duisburg).

And yet, given that successful candidates usually compete both in a constituency and

on the list, the constituency organisations play a key role. In our analysis we found

that of 79 elected immigrant councilors only seven did not stand in a constituency.

This means that anyone who wants to become a councilor is well advised to seek

nomination as a constituency candidate – and that, without this nomination, it is

difficult to get an attractive place on a party list.

Sometimes a party may struggle to find enough candidates, but in larger cities it is

more likely that candidatures are contested. Local party organizations in Germany

have been shown to nominate candidates that have earned their nomination through

long-term party engagement (Holtkamp, 2007). Indeed, the parties may place less

emphasis on the personal ability of candidates to attract support when they can

assume that the votes are in the first place shed for the party. As has been explained

above, voters in local elections in Nordrhein-Westfalen have a single vote that goes to

a constituency representative and his or her party at the same time. This may reduce

fears that voters could react negatively to an immigrant candidate. If the party is


assumed to win the votes, calculations with regard to interactions between the indi-

vidual candidate and the voters become less important.26

Furthermore, we should distinguish between mechanisms working in large catch-

all parties (Volksparteien) on the one hand, and the ones functioning in smaller par-

ties, on the other. Constituency seats are overwhelmingly won by the CDU and the

SPD. In the smaller parties, the city-wide lists are decisive. Here, constituency nomi-

nations may be less contested and the city-wide party structures should be assumed

to have more influence on the composition of the council faction.

In our NRW cities, all immigrant councilors who were directly elected represent

the two biggest parties. With two exceptions, the nine CDU immigrant councilors

were elected directly. Here, it is more likely for an immigrant councilor to be a con-

stituency representative than for other councilors. This may indicate that city-wide

party organizations are not (or rarely) willing to give their factions a more diverse

appearance by ensuring the election of immigrant candidates via their lists.

Among SPD immigrant councilors, 16 of 30 were elected in the constituency which

roughly equals the balance for all councilors (IM NRW, 2009: 122).27 Thus we find

no indication here that it is more difficult for immigrants to get elected directly. Of

the few directly elected Green Party councilors none has a migration background.28

Altogether about one third of immigrant councilors secured seats as directly

elected constituency representatives, while the majority was elected via party lists.

This predominance of the list representatives reflects the relative importance of

smaller parties.

As the necessary statistics are unavailable29, we cannot tell whether the parties

tend to field immigrant candidates in areas with a significant immigrant electorate or

whether constituencies won by immigrant candidates are generally areas with high

shares of immigrant voters. Due to low levels of immigrant concentration, it is hardly

conceivable that candidates can win a council seat based on the immigrant vote alone.

In German cities, it is rare that a district (Stadtteil) has more than 50% immigrants.

26 Based on a large-scale survey in 1999, Bovermann (2002: 154, 144) concludes that party orientations are by far the strongest influence on local voting behavior in NRW. Most vo ters do not know individual candidates.

27 Based on 22 district free cities, the share of directly elected councilors is 67 and 69% for CDU and SPD, see IM NRW, 2009.

28 In 22 district free cities the Green Party won 18 constituency seats, 11 of them in Köln.29 No figures for those with a migration background are available for constituencies. Only

some cities have compiled estimates for their districts. Figures differ slightly from those based on the microcensus as the cities use their population registers.


In Cologne, eleven of the 86 districts (Stadtteile) have an immigrant share of the pop-

ulation that exceeds 50% (data for 2007, Stadt Köln, 2009). At the same time, only

about half of the immigrant population holds German citizenship, which means that

probably no constituency in Cologne has an electorate in which immigrants and EU-

citizens form the majority.30 Still, the additional mobilization of immigrant voters

can be decisive for a candidate’s success. The following examples illustrate that, by

fielding immigrant candidates, parties can mobilize additional votes. But they also

indicate that this is not necessarily the case and that the results for immigrant candi-

dates are not uniform.

In Köln where the Social Democrats lost in all but six of the 45 constituencies

in the 2009 local elections, they secured a slightly higher share of the vote in two of

the three districts won by immigrant councilors. With a 3.9% improvement, Malik

Karaman (a Turkish-born candidate) had the highest gain. Susana dos Santos, the

daughter of Portuguese immigrants, represents the constituency with the highest

SPD share of all 45 Cologne constituencies (42%). Both constituencies have large

immigrant populations (Stadt Köln, 2008, 2009).

In Duisburg, a city where about 30% of the population has a migration back-

ground, one of the eight immigrant councillors was elected directly. Gürsel Dogan

(CDU) won the Dellviertel-West/Hochfeld-Nord constituency. In 2004, this constitu-

ency had been won by the SPD. In Hochfeld, 66% of the population have a migration

background, in the Dellviertel 42% (including foreigners, the areas are not identical

with the constituency).31 The CDU increased its result by 4.7%, while it lost 2.5%

in the city overall, and in only three of 37 constituencies the CDU-share increased

(Stadt Duisburg, 2009). This exceptional result for Dogan suggests a mobilization of

additional voters from the immigrant population by the new candidate.

In three of the four constituencies in Moers, on the other hand, where immigrant

councilors were elected for the SPD,32 the losses were higher (3.6%, 5.4% and 6.3%)

than in the city overall (-2.7%), although the SPD share in these constituencies was

above its city result.

30 Thus in one constituency in northern Cologne (no. 27) that combines three districts with extremely high immigrant shares, Germans with a migration background and EU-citi-zens account for 42% of the population (own calculation based on Stadt Köln, 2009). The definition of migration background used here is not identical with that of the Statis-tisches Bundesamt. The city has not published figures for constituencies and voters.

31 Stadt Duisburg, Einwohner mit Migrationshintergrund 2008, table provided on request, not dated.

32 All elected SPD councilors won direct seats.


As we do not have detailed population breakdowns for constituencies, it is impos-

sible to offer precise evaluations of links between the availability of immigrant can-

didates and the voting behavior of the immigrant population. For the US, Matt

Baretto (2007: 64) has argued that “ethnic candidates increase the level of psycho-

logical engagement and interest in the election among ethnic voters”. Do immigrants

in Germany identify with immigrants or Italians with Italians, Poles with Poles etc.,

i.e. to what extent is group consciousness on the basis of migration background or

ethnic background a factor in elections? In a survey conducted in Nordrhein-West-

falen immediately before the 2009 local elections, we asked prospective voters with a

migration background whether they would prefer to vote, in the coming local elec-

tions, for a candidate who also had a migration background.33 More than 40% of

the respondents said yes. But were voters also aware of the existence of such candi-

dates? Asked about the existence of immigrant candidates in their city, 41% said yes,

they believed that such candidates existed. This suggests that, in order to exploit the

mobilizing potential of immigrant candidates, their existence needs to become more

widely known; in fact, such candidates existed in all of the sampled cities.

There is further evidence pointing at an as yet limited mobilization of the immi-

grant population within Germany’s political system. Forty-seven % of those with a

migration background declared that no party in their city represented their political

views. Of those who felt represented, 36% mentioned the SPD, 23% the CDU, 20%

Green Party, 7% FDP and 5% The Left.34 The most striking detail here is the fact

that about half of the immigrant respondents could not name any political party as

represen ting their political views. It is not possible to evaluate the extent to which this

limited identification is caused by the low immigrant representation, but it is plausi-

ble that a link does exist.

33 The representative survey was conducted in August 2009 in four cities for the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity. It comprised 1026 interviews; half of the respondents were German citizens of immigrant background and EU-citizens, half were non-immigrant Germans.

34 As exit polls in Germany in general do not distinguish according to migration back-ground, our knowledge of voting preferences among immigrants is extremely limited. The city of Dortmund, however, on election day conducted a poll with 2000 participants in which EU-citizens and naturalized Germans were identified. It provides some evi-dence on party preferences, but not on reactions to immigrant candidacies. According to this study, the immigrant voters in Dortmund had to a greater extent voted for the SPD (43 versus 38% achieved in the election) and The Left (10 versus 5.5%) than other voters, but the CDU-vote was – at more than 25% – only slightly below the actual election result (28.7%) (Stadt Dortmund, 2009: 22, 27).


The immigrant councilors

Who are the elected councilors? As seen in Table 4, the category of elected councilors

with a migration background is characterized by the preponderance of councilors

stemming from Turkey.

More than 40 of the total number of elected immigrant councilors have a Tur-

kish background. Indeed, the group is the largest of all national-origin groups in

Nordrhein-Westfalen, however, as pointed out above, those of Turkish background

account for only about one fifth of the immigrant population and an even smaller

proportion of the immigrant electorate.

Four councilors have an Italian and four a Greek background, Italy and Greece

being amongst the main countries from which guest workers originated.

With 21 councilors, those with a current-EU-member-state background are well

represented. Still, given their privileged legal position, one might have expected an

“over-representation” compared with their share of the immigrant electorate (the

EU-nationals account for about one quarter, in addition there are German nationals

with a background in one of the other EU-states). Apparently the political parties do

not specifically target EU-foreigners. For Nordrhein-Westfalen it is unknown to what

extent these individuals participated in the election.

Only eight councilors have east European backgrounds – in spite of the huge

number of Aussiedler.35 The recent nature of this immigration may serve to explain

this phenomenon, but it is also possible that Ethnic German Immigrants, socialized

in the “socialist” dictatorships of Eastern Europe, are reluctant to actively engage in

Germany’s political life.

Nine councilors have non-European origins. This is lower than their share of the

immigrant population; parity representation would be reached with 13 councilors

from this group.36 As this group is heterogeneous, it would be unwise to offer one

general explanation: the rate of naturalizations and discrimination play a part. Also,

immigration processes are often fairly recent, and the small size of the different

national-origin groups may also have an impact.

35 Here, however, our analysis may have overlooked councilors born in Germany. Names in these cases often do not hint at an immigration background, and ethnic German immi-grants often do not themselves identify as immigrants.

36 According to the microcensus 2009, about 700.000 NRW-inhabitants – of 4.3 million with an identifiable migration background – originated in America, Africa and Asia (16%). This includes foreign nationals.


Table 4: National background of immigrant councilors in 29 cities in NRW, 2009

National background Number of councilors

Turkey 43Other ‘Guest Worker’ States 13

Greece 4 Italy 4 former Yugoslavia 3 Spain 1 Portugal 1

Eastern Europe 8 Poland 3 former Soviet Union 2 Bulgaria 2 former Czechoslovakia 1

Other European States 6 Austria 2 Netherlands 2 Albania 1 United Kingdom 1

Asia 4 Iran 3 India 1

Latin America 3 Argentina 1 Columbia 1 Peru 1

Africa 2 Congo 1 Morocco 1


The most striking aspect regarding the national backgrounds of the immigrant coun-

cilors is the large share of those with a Turkish background. This is not a phenom-

enon specific to Nordrhein-Westfalen or to local elections37, although on the level

37 In Denmark as well, the Turks are particularly well represented. In 2001 about half of the ethnic minority representatives (note: not of all immigrants) in local councils had a Tur-kish background (Togeby, 2008: 336). In the Netherlands, Michon (2010) also found high numbers of Turks among elected representatives.


of state parliaments, for instance, the over-representation of those of Turkish back-

ground is not quite as pronounced. Empirically grounded explanations do not yet

exist. Hypothetically four explanatory factors may be advanced:

First, those of Turkish background have the strongest community structures. As

for instance researchers in Amsterdam have argued (Tillie, 2004; Vermeulen/Berger,

2008), ethnic organizations represent social capital that can foster an increased par-

ticipation in the institutions and political processes of the immigration country. Fur-

ther, regarding Turks the means for a targeted mobilization exist. While Turkish-

language newspapers are available across Germany and believed to be widely read,

of other immigrant languages only Russian is represented on a considerable scale

(Geißler/Pöttker, 2005).

The Turks in Germany are also a highly politicized group, and a pool of potential

activists in German politics may be more readily available than in other groups.

Additionally, the disadvantaged position of the Turkish population and the expe-

rience of discrimination may provide a stronger motivation to become active than

among better-placed immigrant groups. Also, it has been suggested, that for those

for whom other career opportunities are difficult to attain, politics is more attractive

than to others who can also choose to pursue a, say, business career (Togeby, 2008:

340; Lee, 2008).

Finally, the parties may be particularly interested in fielding Turkish candidates

because they believe that this group has a strong group consciousness and that for

Turkish-Germans identification with “one of their own kind” is a relevant factor in

their voting decisions. They may also overestimate the share of Turkish-origin voters,

as the public debate, to a great extent, focuses on Turkish immigrants.

Astonishing is not only the high proportion amongst the political elite with a

migration background, of Germans stemming from Turkey. The group of politically

active immigrants is also made up of a surprisingly high share of women. In Nord-

rhein-Westfalen, 37 of the total 79 immigrant councilors in 2009 were women. This is

higher than the percentage of women amongst the total number of councilors.38 For

the Netherlands, Laure Michon (2010) has made similar observations. Here 35% of

the immigrant local councilors are women, compared with 26% of all councilors. For

Norway it has been suggested that the selection policies of the parties are responsible

38 This proportion ranges from 32% to 36% for cities with more than 100 000 residents (DJI, 2005: 373, 376).


for a relatively high share of women among immigrant councilors (Bergh/Bjorklund,

2010: 135).

The diversification of the group of immigrant councilors according to generation

is also noteworthy. 56, or more than two thirds of the immigrant councilors were

born in countries other than Germany. This roughly represents the share of the for-

eign born in the migrant population. It is remarkable that political participation on

the level of local politics does not seem to require an adjustment process over gene-

rations.39 As similar observations have been made in the Netherlands and France

(Michon, 2011: 90), we may have to rethink assumptions about processes of transna-

tional political socialization.

V. Conclusions

Overall, we can conclude that the immigrant presence in Germany’s political life

– in this case the local councils – is becoming an issue. The number of local politi-

cians with a migration background is increasing. In the larger cities of Nordrhein-

Westfalen, the level of immigrant representation in the councils is about 4% of the

avai lable seats. This is on a par with England in 2006, where a 4.1% share of ethnic

minority councilors was found (House of Commons Library, 2008: 8). However, we

have to keep in mind that in Germany we only looked at the big cities where rep-

resentation levels may be higher than in small towns. Furthermore, the concept of

“immigrant” used in our study is not identical with the British concept of “ethnic

minority”. Figures for first and second generation immigrants in England are una-

vailable. Thus the comparison probably sheds a misleadingly positive light on the

German situation.

In the Netherlands, an analysis for the year 2006 found 302 councilors of foreign

origin, equaling 3% of all municipal councilors (Michon/Tillie/van Helsum, 2007).

Akin to our study, “migrant councilors” are first and second-generation immigrants.

Still, the results are not directly comparable, as the Dutch study includes all munici-

palities, and not only the large ones.

Immigrant representation has increased from 2004 to 2009, confirming the

expected effect of the citizenship reform and the growth of an immigrant population

39 We may however overlook some second-generation immigrants as they are more difficult to identify.


with German citizenship and voting rights. As our analysis only accounted for two

electoral periods, and found the levels of immigrant representation to be highly vari-

able across the cities selected, the stableness of this trend is uncertain. Furthermore,

we should also be aware that German cities are still far away from a level of represen-

tation that equals the size of the immigrant population.

Compared with the regional (2.1% in 2009) and national levels (3.2%)40, the immi-

grant share of seats in the local parliaments is slightly higher. These differences, how-

ever, do not justify the conclusion that the political incorporation of immigrants

proceeds more rapidly at the local level. In fact, given the higher share of immigrants

amongst the electorate in the big cities, as well as the additional immigrant electorate

formed by EU-citizens in local elections, such divergences are to be expected (the size

of the immigrant electorate in national elections has been estimated at 9% whereas it

ranges between seven and 26% in the cities analyzed here).

The considerable differences we found between the 29 cities suggest that local con-

ditions form part of the factors that drive immigrant representation. No single socio-

demographic factor seems to solely explain these differences. Qualitative studies will

have to explore the specific interactions of structural conditions, social formations

(community structures) and politics that in all likelihood lead to different degrees of

mobilization and of openness or closure towards immigrant politicians.

Further research is needed to see whether the specific institutional features of the

electoral system applied in this German state have an impact on the opportunities of

immigrant politicians. The evidence presented here forms part of a larger project that

will produce comparable evidence on all big cities in Germany and on the situation in

states with different electoral systems.

The high number of local councilors with Turkish backgrounds suggests that eth-

nic community structures (such as the availability of specific media) play a part in

creating a pool of activists available to stand for election. This phenomenon also

belies complaints about a lack of engagement of Turks within German society.

As distinct from other European countries, access to political influence in Ger-

many has not been primarily facilitated by social democratic organizations. While

for instance in Denmark 60% of local councilors belonged to the Social Democratic

Party in 2001 (Togeby, 2008: 334), in Germany the Left party as well as the Green

Party are particularly important. Together, they brought almost as many immigrants

into the councils as the SPD – although they hold a much smaller number of seats.

40 Own calculations.


Future research will hopefully provide a more extensive picture of local represen-

tation across Germany. With respect to its driving factors, more knowledge of immi-

grant activists and voters as well as of the political factors fostering and hindering

immigrant representation would be particularly desirable. Furthermore, systematic

international comparative studies could help to isolate both the general and the spe-

cific mechanisms at work, as well as the conditions promoting the equal representa-

tion of different groups amongst the population.


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